Cardiology

Dr Roberto Spina

MBBS MSc MPH FRACP

Interventional Cardiologist

Dr Roberto Spina is an Interventional Cardiologist trained in Australia and the USA and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Dr Spina graduated with Distinction from Flinders University Medical School in Adelaide, South Australia and undertook his hospital internship at the Royal Darwin Hospital in Darwin, Northern Territory. Subsequently, he trained in medicine for 3 years at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and in cardiology for 3 years at St Vincent’s Hospital, both in Sydney. Dr Spina undertook further formal subspecialty training in interventional cardiology in the form of a 2-year full-time fellowship at St Vincent’s Hospital, and a one-year full-time paid fellowship in Structural Heart Intervention at the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York, USA. The latter hospital is one of the world’s most prestigious, innovative and experienced heart centres, and performs the greatest number of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in the USA.

During the 3 years of additional subspecialty training, Dr Spina gained extensive and in-depth experience in cardiac catheterisation, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and transcatheter (minimally invasive) heart interventions. He has performed more than 3,000 cases of diagnostic coronary angiography, 1,000 cases coronary stenting procedures, and more than 100 cases of transcatheter aortic and mitral valve replacement.

Dr Spina has published widely in the field of cardiology and interventional cardiology with more than 45 publications, including in prominent journals such as the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Circulation and the European Heart Journal. He is currently enrolled in a PhD in Clinical Medicine at the University of New South Wales where he works under the mentorship of Professor David Muller (St Vincent’s Hospital). He has presented his research at most major cardiology and interventional cardiology meetings in Australia and abroad, including TCT and TVT (USA) and EuroPCR (France), and is a reviewer for several cardiology journals.

Dr Spina complemented his research skills with training in clinical trials, epidemiology and biostatistics through a face-to-face, intense and rigorous Master’s in Public Health (MPH) at Harvard University. Dr Spina has an interest in the population health aspects of cardiovascular disease. As a medical student, he was the recipient of the John Flynn Scholarship scheme which allowed him to spend two weeks a year in a remote Aboriginal Medical Service in Angurugu, Groote Eylandt, East Arnhem Land. He also worked for the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and furthered his interests in health policy and public health in the field of cardiology with his MPH at Harvard University.

An avid runner, Dr Spina has participated in running events worldwide. He is a passionate skier and freediver and enjoys adventure activities such as caving, mountaineering and diving. Dr Spina is a strong believer in, and advocate for, the importance of regular aerobic exercise, a balanced and healthy diet, and good quality sleep in health maintenance and promotion.